Anyone here every use A.T.B.?

[Chainmaillekid]

A.T.B. is an acronym for "Absolutely The Best."
It is a Bicycle chain lube, supposedly availible only in a few Bike shops in the west.

I've heard A LOT about it, despite not being a biker

It sounds IDEAL for bearings though.

A.T.B. Chain Lubricant is blended with the least oily, least sticky extreme pressure and friction reducing compound available.

Most commercial chain lubricants are too thick and too sticky to function properly as a bicycle chain lubricant. Dust and dirt collect on the sticky lubricants and creat an abrasive condition which quickly wears out the chain rings and sprockets.

I was just wondering if anyone here has tried it in order to compare.

[edit]'every' in the title is supposed to be 'ever'.

[AntonL]

never tried it but it has my attention, is it just called ATB? ill check out some local shops

[Chainmaillekid]

I got mine!



Its some sort of thin grease suspended in what smells like denatured alcohol.

It comes in three thicknesses.
I -normal, dry to dusty conditions.
II -mist, rain or extended long rides.
III -Heavy Rain, muddy conditions.

I got the #2 since that seemsed the most applicable.

I havn't used it on my bearings yet, as I just put machine oil in them yesterday, but I had a few other things that needed a bit of loving.

This stuff is like, REALLY thin. Whatever this stuff is, its got no surface tension. because it just gets Sucked up by tiny cracks.
Once the solvent evaporates ( takes a while ), it leaves behind a nice thin coating of lube.

Now, Its been a few hours since I used the stuff.
and I've even washed my hands a few times, but I can still fell it on my fingers a little bit, Smell it a little too.
So this stuff deffinitly likes to stay where its at.

Its not going to give the same protection aginst water as a bearing stuffed with grease, but it wont wash away with a little water either.
And its too thin to really attract much dirt.

I havn't tried it really in on my bearings yet, like I said.
But it seems promising.

[Chainmaillekid]

Finnally got around to putting the stuff in my bearings.

I dont know how best to go about doing a comparison...

What I ended up doing was putting ATB on the right side wheels and what Id previously been using, cutting machine oil, ( which is designed to be used in a number of applications, including bearings. ) in the left side.

Because the ATB goes on really thin, It really doesn't do much in terms of quieting the bearings, Marginally louder than the machine oil.

Deffinitly less friction then the oil, If anyone cares about free spin, I got three min W/ ATB, and less then a min w/oil, w/ 65mm wheels.

Considering its a grease, not an oil, I guess thats pretty good.

For fun I got my dremel out and spun the wheels @ probably about 20,000 RPM for a few min.
ATB was Much quieter then oil at higher RPMs.
After a while, the oil got spun out of the bearings, And they started vibrating, and making a loud buzzing noise.
I did't lose Any ATB though.
So if you're ever planing on taking your longboard to 400mph, don't use cheap oil.

I havn't tested vs water yet, but...
well, Im sure its better then oil, but I dont anticipate it being nearly as good as grease packed bearings.
I guess my conclusion is that it probably will make really good lube if you just wanna go fast.
Its more then decent at protecting your bearings from dust/dirt.
OK vs water.
Better then oils.

Next time I get some, Ill get it as a grease tub, not as a suspended solution. That way I can pack it in if I wants.

[AntonL]

This stuff seems pretty cool, totally down if i can find a tub, dont trust suspensions too much